Ahmedabad: An Indian court on Tuesday convicted 31 and 63 acquitted accused in the 2002 Godhra train burning case.
A special court in Ahmedabad pronounced its judgment on the role of 80 people accused of conspiring and burning the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.
Fifty-nine people, mostly Kar Sewaks returning from Ayodhya, were killed in the incident. The incident had triggered horrendous communal riots in the state in which over 1200 people, mostly from the minority community, were killed and riots had lasted a few months.
The verdict was pronounced at Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail, where the trial was being held. Designated Judge PR Patel, who completed hearing the arguments of the prosecution and the defense in September last year, announced the verdict in the sensitive case.
Trial in the case began in June 2009 with the framing of the charges against the accused, who have been in Sabarmati jail since their arrest in 2002. All the accused in the case had been charged with criminal conspiracy and murder and rioting.
Initially, the accused were charged under anti-terror draconian law POTA but in 2005 central government appointed POTA review committee had recommended withdrawal of POTA on the ground of lack of adequate evidence against the accused. The Gujarat High Court and also the Supreme Court had upheld the review committee’s recommendation of dropping of POTA on the accused.
A mob of around 1,000 people had targeted the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra station in Gujarat in February 2002.
Immediately after the train burning incident by a mob, the Gujarat government had described it as a part of international conspiracy to create communal disturbances in the state. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had termed the incident as a pre-planned massacre against Hindus in the state.
However, initial investigations by the local police indicated that it could have been a spontaneous riot situation, but subsequently aw Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Gujarat government claimed that the act was pre-planned conspiracy to target kar sevaks who were returning from Ayodhya.
The SIT led by IPS officer Rakesh Asthana held that a Godhara-based cleric, Maulvi Umarji, had ordered four lieutenants to mobilise a mob at the station to target the S-6 bogey that was carrying Kar Sewaks.
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